Whos Home And Native Land Essays - Production Economics

Who's Home And Native Land? Over the past decades, Aboriginal people (the original people or indigenous occupants of a particular country), have been oppressed by the Canadian society and continue to live under racism resulting in gender/ class oppression. The history of Colonialism, and Capitalism has played a significant role in the construction and impact of how Aborignal people are treated and viewed presently in the Canadian society. The struggles, injustices, prejudice, and discrimination that have plagued Aboriginal peoples for more than three centuries are still grim realities today. The failures of Canadas racist policies toward Aboriginal peoples are reflected in the high levels of unemployment and poor education. Presently, the state shapes the construction and social reproduction of racism, racialization, and sexism as experienced by Aboriginal people in Canada. Colonialism is a process by which European power takes control over and dominates and exploits an indigenous group by appropriating their land and resources, extracting their wealth, and using them as cheap labor. In Canada, the British evaded the Aboriginals (indigenous people), with their vision of creating a capitalist society. The vision was to have Aboriginal people produce commodities off their own land in return for goods. -Thus began slavery in Canada. Sometimes, merchant capital often had to use force to transform pre- capitalist societies in order to introduce commodity relations and production. It was important to merchant capital that the existing pre-capitalist relations of production be reinforced and perpetuated in order to guarantee the required production of goods. Traditional relations of production continued, not in their independent form, but as a new form of relations of production incorporated into capitalist relations of exploitation. (Bourgeault, 43). The British were interested in the production and circulation of fur as a commodity in the world market and were in need of labor. The Indians were the only available source of skilled labor, so they became part of the production process. From Colonialization, Capitalism came which resulted in the disintegration of communal and egalitarian societies that the indigenous created, which in turn, became the exploited labor force in the commodity production. European ethnocentrism and racism also affected patterns of Aboriginal socialization. Since most whites viewed all aspects of indigenous life to be culturally and morally inferior, missionaries made efforts to eliminate the egalitarianism customs of Aboriginal societies and to promote the norms of the dominant European patriarchal society. The perceived differences between men and women led to cultural genocide. Capitalism is an economic and social system that focuses on pursuit of profit. It has also involved the presence of exchange of goods for money or other goods, and the organization of production and distribution of goods . One example of this is the Hudsons Bay fur trade. The fur trade of the Hudsons Bay basin initially transformed the indigenous communal societies in order to exploit Indian labor in the commodity production of fur (Bourgeault, 41). Capitalism uses market relations (including class relationship) Capitalism centered in the Red River Colony, class and race divisions established intensified. The conflict between the indigenous bourgeoisie aligned with other Indian and Metis producing classes and the British merchant class over the accumulation of capital .. (Bourgeault, 42). Capitalism could be seen as the dawn of active racism and segregation. When British colonies invaded in Native people of Canada, the classification of humans into race types was begun causing the e xploitation of the indigenous. The Aboriginal people were eventually turned into slaves so that the colonies would gain more profit. They were also segregated and put into their own communities to learn their new patriarchal life. Racialization is the idea that race relations do not exist, but focuses on why certain relations between groups become defined by reference to race. Racialization refers to patterns of interaction that reflect perceptions of biological differences to account for differences and similarities. It also entails the idea that certain ideas or activities become linked with race. Aboriginals are racialized by Canadians, in that they are invested with negative biologically determined attributes that are seen as creating problems, posing a threat to society, and providing unwanted competition for scarce resources. In the seventeenth century, fur and land would be considered to be a threat to wanted scarcities by the British and their